Looking good from here. I noticed that when I was moving on one axis, sometimes I'd press a key to move on the other axis and there was a delay before my character started moving. Looking closer, it seems they're constrained to a grid? Not necessarily a problem, I was just expecting free movement and it took me a bit to figure out why I wasn't quite getting it. The original Legend of Zelda was like this, but it allowed you to move one pixel at a time and stop in between two grid positions.

If I'm moving left and I press right without releasing left, I kind of expect to move right instead of stopping. In other words, the latest direction pressed would take precedence over the previous ones. Might make it feel a bit smoother if you want to turn around but aren't too quick about releasing your previous movement key.

@maximile
Sorry about that, I'll build a 32bit version on my next update.

@ThemsAllTook
You're correct, right now the characters are tied to a grid. I think i will get rid of that in favor of free movement. Also, right now I have the inputs cancel each other out (i.e. right = dx+MOVE_STEP,left = dx-MOVE_STEP). It's definitely important for the control to be smooth, so I'll fix that too.
Thanks for your input!

I would recommend making your characters be circles instead of little boxes. The biggest reason is that they won't get caught on the seams in your tilemap. The other reason is that it makes for nice smooth collisions with corners. This is especially nice when running down corridors.

How do you shoot? I tried mashing a lot of buttons and the mouse, but nothing seemed to work.

(Jul 16, 2011 09:04 AM)Skorche Wrote: I would recommend making your characters be circles instead of little boxes. The biggest reason is that they won't get caught on the seams in your tilemap. The other reason is that it makes for nice smooth collisions with corners. This is especially nice when running down corridors.

Thanks for the advice, will do!

(Jul 16, 2011 09:04 AM)Skorche Wrote: How do you shoot? I tried mashing a lot of buttons and the mouse, but nothing seemed to work.

't' for player 1
'p' for player 2
I know the keys are kinda strange for now, I'll have a better configuration next build. Ideally, I want to be able to use a USB controller as an option, and I'm currently working with an Xbox 360 Controller.

If find the red guys to be pretty tough. You can't run away from them because they move at the same speed, and when they start to push you it becomes harder to shoot and sometimes you can't hit them so it ends really badly. Have you tried tweaking them to make them slightly slower than the player so if I need to I can run away?

Why is it that the particle effect for bullets after they've travelled to their full distance shoots back in the direction it came from? It looks strange to me. Kinda like shooting in a really strong headwind. I'd expect that they'd leave a vapor trail along the way and maybe a slow poof continuing on in the direction the bullet was going.

Full screen (kinda like Your Story does it where it's not necessarily _full_ screen) would be nice.

Thanks for the reply Seth, I did a little bit of balancing to the red guys. If I can get around to it, I'll work on the particle effects and the full screen option. Been super busy with work and school though.

Finally got around to playing this. Definitely shows some good potential, but it feels like it needed a bit more time spent on it than the contest deadline allowed. I took down some notes while I was playing. It's a bit haphazard, but maybe you can find some useful feedback in here somewhere:

Can't get away from enemies when they're on you; can't do much to shoot them while running (maybe intentional? Have to play carefully so as not to get a whole swarm at a time). Still, being able to take another hit without any time to recover from the previous one means that if a fast-moving enemy gets you up against a wall, your entire health pool can be drained without a single thing you can do about it.

Great to see a two-player mode! I'm not sure about the decision to lock the camera onto player 1 and just let player 2 roam around anywhere offscreen, but I suppose it's a reasonable enough way to do it.

Multi-player button doesn't appear to do anything other than play a sound?

Would like to be able to reconfigure controls (with gamepad support, ideally)

Music doesn't loop seamlessly; fades out when looping

During death or level transitions, the camera moves to lower left corner of the level for no apparent reason

Points flying up to the display at the top is a very nice touch!

I'd like to be able to pause (automatically when the app is backgrounded, too) and be able to return to the main menu from the game some way other than dying or quitting

I see a health pickup sound in the application bundle and a sprite for it on the game banner, but can't find any in the game?